Bellingham School Committee fed up with unfunded mandates’

Monday

Mar 17, 2014 at 1:02 AM

By Matt TotaDaily News Staff

BELLINGHAM — Bemoaning so-called "unfunded mandates" and the costs and challenges they create, Bellingham school officials have called on the state Legislature for support.At the School Committee’s behest, Superintendent Edward Fleury recently penned a terse letter to local lawmakers articulating the school district’s worries.Committee members felt compelled to contact state Sen. Richard Moore, D-Uxbridge, and state Rep. Kevin Kuros, R-Uxbridge, upon hearing about a new law stipulating that school districts provide expelled or suspended students opportunities to earn credits and keep up with their classes.The letter was also sent to Suzanne Bump, the state auditor.Signed by Gov. Deval Patrick in 2012, the law, which goes into effect in July, is aimed at assuring that students won’t fall behind while penalized, whether through after-school lessons or extra tutoring. The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, though, has not released guidelines for districts to follow.According to Fleury, "These programs could potentially cost districts thousands of dollars to fully implement. …"For committee members, the law represents yet another mandate, each as burdensome as the next.In the past few years, Fleury said, districts have been forced to devote more resources to adapting standards in English and mathematics known as the Common Core and to prepping students for a computer-based assessment, called PARCC.Under a state pilot program, the new test must be administered at five of the district’s schools this year, he said, in addition to the regular MCAS exam schedule.Fleury also referenced another state mandate requiring that teachers take a 45-hour course to improve education for students who speak English as a second language. The course, he said, is now a part of the teachers licensing process."The course will put additional strain on teachers and administrators in time and finances, as there are a limited number of instructors and the state will cover only a partial portion of the initial training costs," Fleury said.Funding to support these new demands, he said, is harder than ever to find. State Chapter 70 money and special education funds have not increased, he said, "while costs continue to rapidly escalate."Bellingham is among several districts contributing to a chorus of pleas for help from legislators in coping with the mandates.Last year, state Rep. Jeffrey Roy, D-Franklin, and other lawmakers sponsored a bill that would establish an 11-person task force to study the mandates, in part to identify those that could be cut or streamlined.The Joint Committee on Education supported the bill, and it has been referred to the Joint Committee on House Ways and Means.In an email, Kuros said on Friday that he had discussed the issue of unfunded mandates with the House Ways and Means Committee’s chairman, state Rep. Brian Dempsey, D-Haverhill, in a meeting last month.Many of the school officials in his district have specifically expressed concerns over the costly rollout of the Common Core and PARCC test, Kuros said."I suggested to Chairman Dempsey that it might be worthwhile for him to assign an analyst from his staff to try to understand the real world impact of (the Common Core) and asked that he consider a one-time aid package to soften the landing for school districts across the Commonwealth once he had an accurate idea of the cost involved," Kuros said.For his part, Moore questioned where districts were when the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education solicited feedback, especially for the student discipline law.Moore said he understood their concerns, but said it’s not as if the Legislature is holding money back from districts.And many of the mandates, he said, serve specific purposes that shouldn’t be ignored."All school committees have historically raised the question about unfunded or under-funded programs, many of which are there to offer equal education opportunities throughout the state," he said.For instance, the new discipline law, he said, is in response to school safety issues and would "make sure students aren’t thrown out of school to fend for themselves, because that creates a societal burden."Matt Tota can be reached at 508-634-7521 or mtota@wickedlocal.com.